By Bryan Bloodworth

BLOOMINGTON – Doug Elgin, the long-time commissioner of the Missouri Valley Conference, recently served on an ad hoc committee to provide perspective to the NCAA men’s basketball committee from coaches and administrators of all levels of Division I.

Elgin said the committee provided perspective to the NCAA basketball tournament committee regarding the selection, seeding and bracketing of the teams.

PODCAST: Listen to interview with Doug Elgin here.

“I think the response of the basketball committee was a sign of collaboration between the coaches’ group and the committee,” added Elgin. “I think they took the recommendations to heart and were very much appreciated. I think it’s a sign of a very healthy enterprise in college basketball.”

The committee also decided that the overall No. 1 seed will be able to select its location to play to first- and second-round games and regional sites. Geographic preferences would be made by teams in contention for the No. 1 seed far in advance of Selection Sunday.

“That was certainly a positive step,” Elgin said.

The committee also had recommendations on the selection, seeding and bracketing process revising the analytic metrics used by the committee and prioritizing certain criteria in the principles and procedures.

“I think they are trying to get to a point where there is more objectivity in the selection of teams,” Elgin continued. “Instead of emphasizing the ratings percentage index, they’re going to be looking at the inclusion of other metrics, other ranking formulas, in how they determine the strength of teams.”

Elgin believes that’s a good thing for the Valley.

“Any additional information that you can access to compare data and to really access the overall strength of teams is really critical,” he added. “I think that’s going to be a benefit to not only teams in the Missouri Valley, but other mid-major conferences and teams.”

Bryan Bloodworth can be reached at [email protected]